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UW Drivers and Officers Transport Many Students During Cold Snap

December 10, 2013 — Drivers for the University of Wyoming’s Transit and
Parking Services, along with the UW Police Department, made about 230 trips to
transport students to and from class during bitterly cold weather last Thursday
and Friday.

That number likely would have been higher if not for
an accident involving a dump truck and a power pole Friday morning that
demanded emergency attention from the UWPD, Chief Mike Samp says.

“We had to turn down a lot of requests on Friday
because of the accident and power outage,” Samp says. “But, over the two days,
we were able to transport well over half of those who asked for help in getting
to and from classes.”

With temperatures lower than minus 25 degrees both
mornings, and wind chill factors approaching minus 50, UW, for the first time,
offered to transport students to and from class out of concern for their
safety. Both the UWPD and Transit and Parking Services increased staffing to
provide the courtesy service between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. both days, in addition
to regularly scheduled UW bus routes.

“We’re pleased that we were able to help so many
students,” says Mark Collins, UW’s associate vice president for operations. “We
didn’t know exactly what to expect, as this was the first time we have provided
the service. Our dispatchers, supervisors, officers and drivers worked
extremely hard and, while we weren’t able to respond to every request, we were
able to help many students get to campus who otherwise likely wouldn’t have
made it.”

UW officials are reviewing the two-day effort to
determine how best to provide such service to students in need in the event of
similar extreme weather events.